Turkey’s government will pay for 25 percent of the natural gas it purchases from Russia in roubles, Russian energy giant Gazprom said in a statement on Tuesday, according to Reuters and Bloomberg.
The remainder of the gas will be paid for in euros and dollars, BloombergHT, the U.S. media company’s Turkish partner, reported. The portion payable in roubles will be increased over time, it said citing unidentified sources.
Turkey buys up to half the natural gas it needs from Russia, its largest global energy partner. It also receives natural gas via pipelines from Iran and Azerbaijan, and has stepped up purchases of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from suppliers in the United States.
Turkey is set to receive Russian gas over the winter and beyond after it refrained from imposing sanctions on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine. On Tuesday, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has maintained close relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, said Turkey would avoid an energy crisis that was set to hit Europe due to the continent’s decision to punish Russia.
Erdoğan announced plans for Turkey to pay for Russian gas in roubles after meeting Putin in Sochi, Russia at the start of last month. He did not provide further details.
At the end of December, Gazprom and Turkish state pipeline company BOTAS signed a latest deal for the supply of natural gas. The four-year agreement envisaged supplying 5.75 billion cubic metres of gas via the TurkStream pipeline. TurkStream has a capacity of 31.5 bcm, of which half is comprised of a line to supply Turkey’s domestic customers. The remainder usually carries Russian gas into Europe through Bulgaria.
Ahval